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The Association Between Music Preferences and Well-Being After the Fukushima Disaster: A Cross-Sectional Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2023

Akira Yoneshiro
Affiliation:
Department of Health Risk Communication, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan Department of Epidemiology, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan
Yoshitake Takebayashi
Affiliation:
Department of Health Risk Communication, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan
Michio Murakami*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Risk Communication, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
*
Corresponding author: Michio Murakami, Email: michio@cider.osaka-u.ac.jp.
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Abstract

Objective:

Those affected by the Fukushima disaster have reported a decline in well-being. Although listening to music is expected to promote well-being, no study has revealed this association after a disaster. This study’s objective is to clarify the association between well-being and music listening habits in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster.

Methods:

A self-report online survey was conducted with 420 residents who were asked to rate 5 types of well-being: life satisfaction, positive emotion, negative emotion, psychological distress, and mental health changes after the Fukushima disaster. To meet inclusion criteria, the participants had to be research company monitors between the ages of 20 and 59 and living in Fukushima Prefecture at the time of the survey. Their music listening habits (eg, recent favorite music) and demographic information (eg, evacuation experience due to the disaster: 20.7%) were also collected. We examined the associations between well-being and music listening habits by univariate analysis followed by a logistic analysis with an adjustment for covariates.

Results:

Positive emotions were significantly associated with any type of music listening habits that participants practiced. We also observed gender and age differences between the associations.

Conclusion:

This study provides foundational insights into the role of music in improving post-disaster well-being.

Information

Type
Original Research
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health
Figure 0

Table 1. Associations between music listening habit variables via a Copper coefficient

Figure 1

Table 2. Participants’ distribution

Figure 2

Table 3. Associations between well-being and music listening habits via a univariate analysis

Figure 3

Table 4. Associations between positive emotion and music listening habits via an ordinal logistic analysis

Figure 4

Table 5. Associations between positive emotion and listening to favorite music after the disaster via an ordinal logistic analysis